Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet

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Ultra sturdy ; Great performance ; Screen

Terrible battery life ; Iffy usability ; Tight storage

The ThinkPad X1 is a tantalising combination of power and ruggedness that should appeal to anyone after a regular travel companion. It’s just a massive shame that the battery dies so fast, and usability isn’t as strong as we hoped.

Powerful CPU ; Slim and light ; Rugged, waterproof build ; Colourful screen ; Good features

Battery life fails to impress ; Hit-and-miss usability ; No dedicated graphics ; Reflective screen

An impressively rugged 13.3-inch laptop with a lot of grunt and great features but a weak battery

Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Tablet offers modular add-on options, and has a sharp display and a great keyboard.

The Intel Core m3 base model is not the fastest machine around, and adding faster parts and optional modules can get expensive. There's no slot or magnetic anchor for the optional stylus.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 tablet isn't as slick as some other Windows tablets, but its modular add-ons give it a cool built-to-order feel.

For corporate customers, familiar Lenovo fare such as spill-resistant keyboard, fingerprint reader and integrated 3G broadband may be useful. And ThinkPad old-timers will value the trackpoint mouse steerer. Against the best of the competition though,...

Good quality screen; Fast and accurate fingerprint reader

Poorly designed modules and docking mechanism; Disappointing build quality; Short battery life; Awkward, fiddly when used on lap; Iffy touchpad

Lenovo’s upgradeable modular Windows tablet is less a vision of the future and more a collection of mistakes to avoid

The recommended retail price of the X1 is R15,000 – likely to raise a few eyebrows for a device with no optical drive, very limited hardware customisability and a touchpad from hell.

Despite the less than glorious screen resolution, in practice, I found the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 was really a pleasure to use. I’m simply a veteran ThinkPad user, there’s always been (at least) one in my Apple household, and I’m the sort of user who...

Yet, for a laptop that promises so much, it's impossible not to walk away from this laptop disappointed – with strong build tempered by poor design decisions, the ThinkPad X1 is a long way from perfection. Those with a soft spot for ThinkPad brand may...

Kickstand ; Pen holder ; Different feature modules

Middling performance

If you’re the type of person who focuses mainly on benchmarks, you might be better off buying a competing convertible tablet. I still rate the ThinkPad X1 Tablet highly, though, since its performance ranks in the “good enough” category for many...